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Published by the Religion and Theatre Focus Group of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education ISSN 1544-8762 http://www.rtjournal.org Published by the Religion and Theatre Focus Group of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education The Journal of Religion and Theatre is a peer-reviewed online journal. The journal aims to provide descriptive and analytical articles examining the spirituality of world cultures in all disciplines of the theatre, performance studies in sacred rituals of all cultures, themes of transcendence in text, on stage, in theatre history, the analysis of dramatic literature, and other topics relating to the relationship between religion and theatre. The journal also aims to facilitate the exchange of knowledge throughout the theatrical community concerning the relationship between theatre and religion and as an academic research resource for the benefit of all interested scholars and artists. ISSN 1544-8762 All rights reserved. Each author retains the copyright of his or her article. Acquiring an article in this pdf format may be used for research and teaching purposes only. No other type of reproduction by any process or technique may be made without the formal, written consent of the author. Submission Guidelines • Submit your article in Microsoft Word 1998 format via the internet • Include a separate title page with the title of the article, your name, address, e-mail address, and phone number, with a 70 to 100 word abstract and a 25 to 50 word biography • Do not type your name on any page of the article • MLA style endnotes -- Appendix A.1. (Do not use parenthetical references in the body of the paper/ list of works cited.) • E-Mail the article and title page via an attachment in Microsoft Word 1998 to Debra Bruch: dlbruch -at- mtu.edu. (Please replace the -at- with @.) • Or send by regular post with the article on a zip disk, Mac format, in Microsoft Word to: Debra Bruch, Ph.D. General Editor, The Journal of Religion and Theatre Department of Fine Arts Michigan Technological University 1400 Townsend Drive Houghton, MI 49931 DEADLINE: May 1st of each year The Journal of Religion and Theatre, Vol. 3, No. 2, Fall 2004 http://www.rtjournal.org This Article: http://www.rtjournal.org/vol_3/no_2/stiehl.html Bharata Natyam: A Dialogical Interrogation of Feminist Voices in Search of the Divine Dance By Pamyla A. Stiehl She cannot forget her ideal, her history, and asks her reflection: Am I any different from my devadasi mother, forced to leave the precincts of the temple? Has history repeated itself? Has the pattern come full circle? Am I now like my devadasi mother, becoming essentially expendable, valueless? She pauses, but briefly. It is time for the next performance. (Avanthi Meduri, "Bharata Natyam -- What Are You" 19) Avanthi Meduri speaks from experience; she is a Bharata Natyam dancer and choreographer. She is also a soul-searching female scholar who raises significant questions regarding the place of Bharata Natyam as danced by a modern-day woman. The above quote represents a feminist investigation within a contemporary dance framework, yet the potency and persistence of such queries are timeless for any female dancer. When India's Bharata Natyam revival and reform movements gained momentum in the 1920s and 30s, dialectical tensions arose between the separate camps, their ideologies, and their activities; for the "perverted" dance of the devadasi was reconstructed as a nationalist emblem while the devadasi, herself, was legislatively barred from her religious profession. Interrogating this potent time period, many feminists have deconstructed the development of contemporary Bharata Natyam. They use material theory to point to the dancer's exploitation, commodification, and marginalization as the temple dance became secularized and the dancer became objectified, inscribed within patriarchal or Orientalist paradigms as a gendered, emblematic, or sociopolitical Other. These constrictions and inscriptions have also influenced modern choreographers as they tried to reclaim and empower the dance form by further reconstituting it, absorbing its "formal" technique and corporeal vocabulary into their own choreographic theory and dance compositions. But, where does God fit into these arguments and strategies? Especially critical is an acknowledgement of both the devotional, spiritual journey which constitutes the art of Bharata Natyam and, more generally, the transcendental power of dance. This is where a divine tension Copyright 2004 by Pamyla A. Stiehl PDF File Page #275 The Journal of Religion and Theatre, Vol. 3, No. 2, Fall 2004 http://www.rtjournal.org This Article: http://www.rtjournal.org/vol_3/no_2/stiehl.html lies which can empower the dancing, female body. Significantly, when the dance is disconnected from its divine potential, it may sit as an inanimate object, ready for commodification and control. Further, when the dancing body is discussed separately from the spirit, it can be positioned as a material site of exploration and deconstruction by theorists. Yet, in Bharata Natyam, such concepts of dualism are nowhere to be found. Its dance journey is both religious sacrament and divine conduit, resulting in a realization of the oneness of self and the cosmos. In this same vein, the erotic/sexual (shringara) element of Bharata Natyam represents synthesis between opposites by which a new empowered entity can arise, exceeding each isolated binary unit. When genders maintain separate, fundamental essences, the energetic movement through multiple significations may result in a complex composition of wholeness. In this paper, I dialogically engage with feminists who have critically examined the material significations of Bharata Natyam in its contemporary configuration. I argue that aspects of their critiques fall short when they ignore the metaphysical power of the devotional dance. For a woman may progress through stages of Bharata Natyam; and in a sublime, performative moment -- a moment that has been achieved by "gendered" agency -- she may rise to the level of the superior being. In order to combine with Shiva, she meets him on the same plane. According to Hindu belief, dance on earth would not have happened without the woman. As recounted in the Natya Shastra (100 BCE - 200 AD), Brahma, the Supreme One, created the fifth Veda (the scripture of drama) and presented it to Bharata who then composed the first drama and sought "the help of Shiva for the steps of the dance. Shiva taught the steps to his disciple Tandu and to Parvati [Goddess and consort/wife] and the harmony of the masculine and feminine in the dance was blended symbolically."1 Thus is suggested a gender synthesis which underpins all dance; however, the female is not completely sublimated within this phenomenon. According to many legends, dance exists in its earthly incarnation thanks, in great part, to Parvati who "was the first teacher of dancing who brought the art down from the heavens to teach it to the people of the earth."2 Dance, therefore, embodies harmony countered with gendered interplay and tension -- the force of which obliterates the ego while realizing 1 Mrinalini Sarabhai, Understanding Bharata Natyam (Baroda: M. S. U of Baroda P, 1965) 2-3. 2 Sarabhai, Understanding 1. Copyright 2004 by Pamyla A. Stiehl PDF File Page #276 The Journal of Religion and Theatre, Vol. 3, No. 2, Fall 2004 http://www.rtjournal.org This Article: http://www.rtjournal.org/vol_3/no_2/stiehl.html divine wholeness. In her article "Feminist Perspectives on Classical Indian Dance," Judith Lynne Hanna writes: "With pleasure he [Shiva] exuberantly dances out the creation of the universe. [. .] Shiva's frenzied Tandava (virile, manly) dance causes chaos and represents the destruction of the world. For his creative dance, his consort Parvati's (tender, womanly) dance is imperative."3 Although legends such as these may suggest an essentialist reading regarding the "feminine" aspect of dance, another Goddess manifestation of Parvati -- Kali -- is the very antithesis of "tender, womanly" qualities. Goddess Kali is a powerful, destructive force which allows creation to occur. She is the ego destroyed -- a ground-scorching pathway to divinity. Dancer and scholar Kapila Vatsyayan speaks of the ideal Indian dancer who "rides the body" with the "fire of experience" in a quest toward obliteration of self toward "spiritual transcendence."4 This concept is beautifully conveyed in the hymn to Kali recounted by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy: "Because thou lovest the Burning-ground, I have made a Burning-ground of my heart -- that Thou, Dark One, haunter of the Burning-ground, mayest dance Thy eternal dance."5 Thus, Indian dance is inextricably connected to a multifaceted, female image of divine power. This mythic and spiritual connection can also speak to material strategies by feminists who wish to address the dance in its sociocultural context. Hanna writes: Female images of the divine may empower some women both spiritually and socially to take control of their lives. Perhaps, as in other cultures with rituals of rebellion, powerful goddesses serve to present complementarities, compensation and alternatives to the male dominance models as well as to remind men not to exceed acceptable limits in their behavior towards women.6 3 Judith Lynne Hanna, "Feminist Perspectives on Classical Indian Dance: Divine Sexuality, Prostitution, and Erotic Fantasy," Dance of India, ed. David Waterhouse (Mumbai: Popular Prakashan, 1998) 199. 4 qtd. Hanna, "Feminist" 201. 5 Sondra Horton Fraleigh, Dance and the Lived Body (Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1987) 141. 6 Judith Lynne Hanna, "Classical Indian Dance and Women's Status," Dance, Gender and Culture, ed. Helen Thomas (New York: Macmillan, 1993) 129. Copyright 2004 by Pamyla A. Stiehl PDF File Page #277 The Journal of Religion and Theatre, Vol. 3, No. 2, Fall 2004 http://www.rtjournal.org This Article: http://www.rtjournal.org/vol_3/no_2/stiehl.html As stated above, sociocultural perspectives cannot be ignored when addressing feminism and dance in India. Specifically, a critical scholar must address and engage the Indian context in which Bharata Natyam was born and with which it is most often identified.
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